The Anne Boleyn Villain Series: Secret Trial

By Bayly OgdenQuailBellMagazine.com

This secret trial allowed the Cardinal and the King to discuss the possibility of Henry divorcing Catherine of Aragon. Henry went through great lengths to marry Anne. Henry first went to the Pope to get his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled under the grounds of the teachings from the biblical book of Leviticus. In Leviticus it states that it is morally wrong for a brother to marry his deceased brother’s wife and as a punishment that marriage will produce no children. Henry used his lack of sons as evidence that God disfavored his first marriage, despite having a dispensation from the Pope allowing the marriage to occur in the first place. The dispensation was based on the testament by Catherine of Aragon stating that her first marriage to Henry’s deceased older brother Arthur was never consummated due to him becoming ill immediately after the wedding (Starkey 79).

Henry’s pursuit of the divorce turned extreme when Cardinal Wolsey of York could not persuade the Pope in granting him an annulment. This prompted Henry to turn to Anne’s Protestant faith and to break away from the Catholic rule of Rome. This breakaway allowed Henry to become head of his own church, which also allowed him to grant his own divorce (Starkey 420). On January 25, 1533 Henry and Anne married (Starkey 474).

This creation of the Church of England shows one of Lady Anne Boleyn's most positive attributes—her fine mind. As stated earlier in this series, Lady Anne Boleyn received a remarkable education for a woman of her standing and era. Trained in both Latin and French, she was able to read the Bible. She, like many other intellectuals at the time. noticed the oxymoron between what the Catholic priests were preaching and what the actual Bible states. This resulted in her conversion. Since she was highly educated, she had access to many Protestant texts, the majority of which stated that the King--not the Pope--was the supreme head of the church in his own realm. Lady Anne then showed these texts to Henry VIII, thus convincing him to break away from the Catholic Church (Warnicke 153).

Protestantism became popular in court due to Anne's influence. She encouraged her own ladies to learn about Protestantism by providing them with a Bible translated into English. Lady Boleyn’s knowledge of the Bible even encouraged her to closely follow the further development in removing the Catholic Church from England: the dissolution of the monasteries. She noticed that with the dissolution of the monasteries, the wealth of the monasteries was transferred directly into the Crown’s treasury. This was the work of Chief Minister Cromwell. When Cromwell knew that Anne knew of his corruption, the two had a falling out and Cromwell became Anne's prime enemy (Warnicke 160).

Lady Anne Boleyn should be considered a religious martyr for introducing Henry VIII to Protestant texts and encouraging the growth of the Protestant religion in her own household. The concept of having an English translation bible at home became popular because of her. Her beliefs helped shaped England into the nation it is today--a Protestant nation.

But despite her role in the creation of the Church of England, not every historian believes that Lady Anne Boleyn was a positive character. Historian C. W. Bernard, author of Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions, believes it was Henry VIII, not Lady Anne Boleyn, who developed the ideas of Supreme Head of the Church in England, and that Lady Anne Boleyn was only a supporter of Protestantism because it helped her get the marriage she desired (Bernard 59). But Bernard’s statement is disproven with historical events that he skimmed over.

During his marriage to Catharine of Aragon, Henry VIII, encouraged by his childhood friend Sir Thomas Moore, wrote a pamphlet defending the faith and commending Martin Luther of heresy. So why would a man who wrote such a thing suddenly change his beliefs? Because he was influenced by outside opinion: Lady Anne Boleyn's. It was Lady Anne Boleyn who brought him the texts that he and Sir Thomas Moore had earlier banned. It was Lady Anne Boleyn who encouraged him to read these texts and declare himself the Head of the Church of England. She did not just follow along and support Henry as Bernard claimed. She was the one who set things in motion.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Anne Boleyn Villain Series," due out April 13, 2012. Read the original post here.